Updates were given on two ongoing projects for the Jasper County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday.
Work being done in relation to the Iowa Traffic Incident Management Training Center and Jasper County Annex Building was presented by those involved in the projects.
Supervisor Doug Cupples started by giving an update on the status of the Iowa Traffic Incident Management Training Center. The proposed center includes constructing a training facility that allows responders including law enforcement, fire and rescue, emergency medical services, towing facilitators and any other entity that may be a part of a traffic incident to train in real life scenarios in a safe setting. The ground selected is located south of the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office on the 36 acres that previously housed the county care facility.
Cupples said he spoke with Dave Lorenzen from the Iowa Department of Transportation recently who reported the department is starting work on the 28E agreement with the county this week. Once a draft is completed it will be reviewed by IDOT council and then a line of communication will be opened with the Jasper County attorney to begin discussions.
At the Jasper County Annex Building, the supervisors agreed getting a detailed account of the space used in the building would be beneficial to any future decisions about the building or potential future locations for the offices housed in the annex.
“We’ve been looking at buildings and seen some different things and what we want to do is make sure we make a good decision and have the right space figured out for what it is we are looking at,” Cupples said. “I was in the Annex building with Adam and we measured some things but really what I think it boils down to is someone with more training than myself should really get down to the square footage of what we really need to make sure we are making a good decision. I think either getting an architect involved or using DMACC resources and give us an idea of how much space we are actually using is probably a good idea so we are making good, wise decisions.”
Supervisor Joe Brock mentioned the previous work completed by Shive-Hattery Architecture Engineering Consulting Firm to determine what construction updates would need to be completed at the annex building. He suggested contacting the engineer in charge to assess the needs of the county and begin to determine a plan.
Brock also spoke about contact he had with Kim Didier, executive director of DMACC Business Resources and project manager of the Maytag Campus, about the possibility of the Jasper County Health Department moving to the Maytag Campus.
“They are very reasonable on the lease and I think they really want us there,” Brock said. “I was kind of thinking of the same thing, if we could lay it out and see what it would take to possibly get public health over there. Kim communicated that the college is really excited about it, so my suggestion would be to get the costs to go there.”
The idea of using volunteers or students to do engineering work was suggested to keep costs down on the project. Jasper County Auditor Dennis Parrott recommended not going down that path for several reasons.
“I know it costs a little bit of money but you’re going to make a near permanent move,” Parrott said “If this is part of the investment you are going to make, whether it is $10,000, $12,000 or $15,000, to have somebody come in and actually measure and do the work so you can check out the building you are looking at and what they are using, it would just feel a lot more comfortable. I think legally as well as professionally it is worth the money to spend if you are going to make probably a permanent move.”
The supervisors plan to continue updates on the projects regularly during the meetings as developments arise.
Contact Jamee A. Pierson at 641-792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com